Books that have a mind of their own, mysterious cave drawings, footprints that look like they belong to a dragon, bees that are spies and messengers, magic, a dragon, and those hunting for the dragon are all part of this book full of adventure, fantasy, and mystery.
Brett loves to eat, and his favorite thing to eat are the parfaits he can get for free on his father’s ship. Right in the middle of eating one, a strange noise captures his attention. Curious, he goes to investigate. After going down a stairwell to a huge storage area below the deck, he finds something totally unexpected—a bunch of live animals. And he finds an empty cage that is obviously meant for a monster not yet there.
Brett soon finds himself in the ocean and is assumed to have drowned. Did someone shove him overboard? But he didn’t drown; he washed up on the beach of a volcanic island, Price Island. He is found by Clay and has no clue about what is ahead of him. For that matter, neither does Clay.
Earth Ranch, a summer camp is on this island, is a special camp for those with magical abilities. But it is supposed to be a secret.
Clay has been having dreams, dragon dreams. Not only does he dream about a dragon, but he feels as though he is the dragon. He finds a cave with strange drawings on the wall and footprints that look as though they belong to a dragon. And he finds a book, a very old book. This book appears to be about taming dragons.
Clay befriends Brett but keeps his presence a secret from the others on the island. One day though, they are found together. Not long after, Brett’s father’s ship arrives at the island, but they aren’t searching for Brett. They are trying to find the dragon.
This book is full of adventure, fantasy, and mystery. There are even a few times when I was so concerned about what was going to happen that I found myself on the edge of my seat. Or if I happened to be walking while I read, my pace became faster. I believe it would keep the attention of anyone who read it, no matter what their age.
taming a dragon, weird-black-cat.deviantart.com
The llama named Como C. Llama, books that had a mind of their own and were able to fly, bees that were both spies and messengers, and a flying teepee were just a few of the things that made this book so awesome. And then, of course, there is the dragon.
I received a copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. If you would like your own copy of this book for yourself or a child in your life, please click on the Amazon link below.
Amazon Link: Bad Luck
Favorite Sentences:
Maybe it was his anger at his father, maybe the Jell-O in his bloodstream, or maybe all that red dye in the cherries; whatever the reason, Brett felt bold and reckless.
The Tree Room was a library-within-the-library, a magic library, where Randolph Price had installed his prize collection of grimoires—those magical books in which you might find the recipe for a potion that turns your brother green or instructions for bewitching your math teacher.
These tunnels, more properly called lava tubes, were formed by rivers of lava so powerful that they bored straight through solid rock; and they provided secret underground roadways for those who wanted to traverse the island without exposing themselves to skies—or eyes—above.
Despite all that I have just written, there comes a time when every Dragon Tamer needs to convince a dragon to do something the dragon does not want to do—even if i is simply to fly home rather than burn down a village.
camelid, wikipedia
New Words Learned:
amorphous – of no particular kind or character; indeterminate; having no pattern or structure; unorganized
batik – fabric that has hand-dyed by using wax as a dye repellent to cover parts of a design
camelid – a mammal of the camel family
Chinook – a U.S. Army cargo helicopter in service since 1962 and capable of ferrying 12 tons of supplies and troops
craven – contemptibly lacking in courage; cowardly
geodesic – pertaining to the geometry of curved surfaces, in which the shortest possible line between the two points is denoted
yurt, wikipedia
harridan – a scolding, vicious woman; hag; shrew
ignobly – contemptibly
tautology– needless repetition of an idea, especially in words other than those of the immediate context, without imparting additional force or clearness, as in “widow woman.”
yurt – a circular tent of felt or skins on collapsible framework, used by nomads in Mongolia, Siberia, and Turkey
About the Author:
Pseudonymous Bosch is the anonymous pseudonymous author of the Secret Series. Not much is known about him other than that he has a passionate love of chocolate and cheese and an equally passionate hatred of mayonnaise. Rumors of Boschian sightings are just as frequent and about as reliable as reports of alien abductions. If you ever meet anyone claiming to be Pseudonymous himself, he is almost certainly an impostor. The real Pseudonymous is said currently to be hiding in a cave in a remote jungle (although there are contrary reports that he is somewhere in Greenland). You may contact him through his website www.pseudonymousbosch.com.
